"Killers Aren't Born"

What inspired me to write about this specific topic this week was,
amusingly, Friday's episode of Millenium, the newest TV show from
Chris Carter, the surfer who came up with the X-Files TV show.

As a side discussion, I'm one of the few X-Files fans who started
watching early on before the show was famous who likes
Millenium to the degree that I suspect it may even be superior to
the X-Files. O what a heretic I am! I think the reason I like it so
much is because it's so se7enish -- the world is apathetic to everything
that happens. I think that identifies with how I view the world
sometimes.

Anyway, Frank Black at the end of the episode tells his police
chief/friend that "killers aren't born." He is referring to the
deviant in the episode, who took it upon himself to terrorize families
who considered themselves safe because they had fancy security systems and
lived in comfortable neighborhoods. He enters inhabited homes during
open houses (days set up for prospective buyers to look at the house) and
hides until the family is vulnerable. Then he kills them and leaves
specific evidence to insult the police, the last line of security. The
killer grew up in an environment where there was no parental support or
stability.

This is basically the same conclusion about personality development that
a lot of people are coming to these days. For instance, some of you may
listen to Howard Stern or others of his style of broadcasting. They're
firmly convinced that one's upbringing affects how he turns up when he
gets older. Children with stable and loving families most likely grow up
to live stable lives. Children who are abused grow up into adults who
abuse their children or have a tendency to be violent.

It is, in a way, true that you do turn into your
parents.

You can tie this into the big cloning issue as well. Personalities are
shaped mainly by environment. The same genetic codes will not produce the
same personalities. It requires identical upbringing to even come close.
Other than this, btw, the sheep cloning issue doesn't interest me at all
-- come on guys, this has been happening for quite awhile now. Get with
the times and stop hyping it up. Hype up my site on your TV shows
instead, will ya?

This issue has fascinated me for awhile because people always wonder how
killers end up how they are. It's no big secret. Somewhere along the
line, almost all killers lived a chaotic and painful childhood. Someone
did not treat them right. Someone is at least partially responsible.
We cannot continue to look at killers and consider them freaks of nature
who were products of nothing and causes of nothing. They encountered
scarring events in their lives and they either pass them on to their
children or they pass it on to other people when they terrorize them.
It's a never-ending chain of pain and suffering.

I don't know how much longer the question of whether personalities develop
more because of genetics or because of environment will circulate after
the millenium -- the answer seems to be making itself more and more
visible every day, as children turn into adults and start making
decisions.

Likewise, it's no secret most successful people turn out the way they
are. They usually have stable and supportive families and peers who
placed value in learning or business or whatever. Parents pass their
traits and habits to their children. My parents are successful and I know
I'm on my way to something successful. I just feel
it.

I could go further and further with this, turning it into a full
psychological hypothesis on the development of the living identity and
personality, but I won't. Not only do I not have the knowledge necessary
to do this topic justice, but the purpose of the 'Box is to throw out
ideas with a little justification, letting the reader ruminate on it and
come to his own conclusion on his own time. Besides, I'm lazy.

In short, don't spread any bogus information about people being killers
just because they were born that way. Don't spread information that
single-parent families do not affect children at all. Take some
responsibility and accept that the current state of families is not
healthy for future generations. I'm nineteen and I grew up well, but I
am afraid to see what will happen when younger generations grow up, with
divorces and broken families increasing every year. Until we get used to
that sort of world, or we return to older values, I think we have good
reason to start worrying about personality development right now.

"Then again," as Dennis Miller says, "that's just my opinion and I could
be wrong."